Johnson & Johnson Is Facing a Lawsuit from Women Left Unable to Have Sex

After losing a lawsuit over a claimed connection with one woman's terminal case of ovarian cancer, Johnson & Johnson is facing a different legal battle in Australia — this one related to a product some women claim has left them in chronic pain and unable to have sex.

As reported by the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC), a group of Australian women opened a class action suit against Johnson & Johnson earlier this summer after they alleged experiencing severe side effects from Johnson-&-Johnson-manufactured pelvic mesh. Mesh can be implanted to support damaged or weak tissue and treat pelvic floor disorders, which are often a complication from childbirth — but the woman involved in this suit claim that mesh implants left them in debilitating, chronic pain.

The prosecution is targeting Johnson & Johnson, as reported by The Guardian in July. According to arguments in court, they alleged that no randomized controlled trials were conducted, the device was aggressively marketed to doctors as a cheap, effective solution for women. “It was sell first, test later,” Barrister Duncan Graham of the Australian Supreme Court said, according to The Guardian. “The women who had them implanted were part of an experiment, they were guinea pigs,” he added.

As part of the court case, lawyers presented emails between a J&J marketing manager and French doctors treating women affected by the faulty mesh, which ABC obtained. One doctor's solution to the debilitating vaginal pain? Just try anal sex. “It is no less true that sodomy could be a good alternative!” he allegedly wrote in one email presented in court.

Women were understandably disgusted by this attitude. "The suggestion that women who are unable to have vaginal intercourse should practice anal instead completely devalues a woman’s right to a full and healthy sex life as an active, empowered and fulfilled participant,” one member of the Australian Pelvic Mesh Support Group commented to The Guardian. "Only a misogynist could think this way," another said.

"As a company, we are here to improve people’s health and wellbeing and our hearts go out to all women suffering pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence — conditions which seriously impact a woman’s quality of life," a representative from Johnson & Johnson told Allure in a statement via email. "I can assure you that safety is our highest priority. We have full confidence in the safety and efficacy of our pelvic mesh products and have acted ethically and in compliance with all laws, regulations and industry codes of conduct in their research, development and supply." The company did not wish to comment on the emails while court proceedings are underway.